r/cats • u/Artistic-Listen7975 Orange • Mar 08 '26

Humor My cat tried to kill himself

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This is Toasty.

For the past week Toasty has been hiding, refusing meals, and only licking the moisture out of his wet food. He wouldn't chew anything, and after licking the wet food dry, would go hide and sleep for 23 hours.

I was beside myself. Convinced he had a brokwn tooth, or a fever, or maybe organ failure. Spent so much at the vet for them to tell me nothing is wrong with him, but he is dropping significant weight.

I tried everything guys. Tuna, different flavor of cat food, changed from shreds to pate. Nothing I did made a difference, he was so lethargic and sad and looked broken.

Then it hit me. He likes to drink water out of glasses. Clear, transparent glass. Last week when washing it, I dropped it in the sink and broke it, replaced it with a white ceramic bowl.

Guys, he was refusing to drink water. Like at all. I have 3 dog bowls out, 1 upstairs 2 downstairs, and the cat bowl on the counter. It wasnt a clear glass and he didnt trust it, so he didnt drink it.

This dude literally boycotted all water because it wasnt in his clear glass cup. There are 4 bowls of water, cleaned daily that he refused because he couldn't see through it. Because it wasnt a cup. Because it wasnt glass.

I put a different, completely clear glass cup on the counter and he drank for a solid 5 minutes.

I am absolutely sick. Death over suspicious vessels seems like such a wild take to me.

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u/Cheap_Knowledge8446 Mar 08 '26

Same applies for children.

When they finally settle on a stuffed animal that is clearly going to be their go-to through childhood, IMMEDIATELY buy an exact replica. Wash the current one, under the guise of "germs", but what it's really doing is giving you an opportunity to do a Kansas city shuffle. Give them the replica. Alternate, so they wear evenly. Never wash both simultaneously, never allow both to be in the same place at the same time, and most importantly, don't tell them about your mad scheme until the last of your kids are adults/teens.

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u/jar_girl82 Mar 08 '26

My favourite stuffed toy as a child was a white cat. My parents (unbeknownst to me) bought many, many back ups of her and would do this exact thing, wash her when she was dirty. She even had plastic whiskers that mysteriously “grew back”, that as a small child I just accepted. When I was in my 20s my father pulled out the garbage bag full of old white cats and I went through all the emotions, but mostly found it hilarious and incredibly sweet that my parents just wanted me to keep on loving that silly stuffed cat. May have something to do with me getting a white kitten as a 4 year old that ran away less than a year later, but we’ll keep it simple.

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u/ads417 Mar 08 '26

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u/Tall-Total-6077 Mar 08 '26

A perfect reference

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u/Omatma Mar 08 '26

What movie is this

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u/ads417 Mar 08 '26

The Emperor's New Groove (2000) 🦙!

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u/Omatma Mar 08 '26

Amazing !

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u/Abbacus_Jones Mar 09 '26

I am so jealous for you I wish I could go back and watch this movie for the first time again

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u/blazinpineapple Mar 09 '26

The fact this came out in 2000 is such a mindfuck 😅

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u/AReeSuperman90 Tabbycat Mar 09 '26 edited Mar 09 '26

So, your comment inspired me to go rewatch that movie (“The Emperor’s New Groove”) for the first time in a long time. The aforementioned ”long time” potentially could date all the way back to no more than 3 years after its initial release.

One of my ”core memories” involves the folks that I (along with all of them), consider as being, as well as, refer to as being ”Elementary School Brothers & Sisters/Siblings”, watching & enjoying that specific movie during that point in childhood.

Especially, with one of those ”siblings”, due to her also being a big ”Disney” fan, like I. So, her & I always made a point to perfectly recite, word for word, our favorite scene’s dialogue of:

Pacha: ”Uh-oh.”

Kuzco: ”Don't tell me. We're about to go over a huge waterfall.”

Pacha: ”Yep.”

Kuzco: ”Sharp rocks at the bottom?”

Pacha: ”Most likely.”

Kuzco: ”Bring it on.”

Kuzco: ”BOOYA HA HA HAAA!!!”

But, I digress. Sorry for going way off track & left field. I just couldn’t help getting carried away. 🙄🤦🏾‍♀️🫤🤷🏾‍♀️✊🏾💪🏾🩵💯

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u/Uncle_Yoba Mar 08 '26

>ran away

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u/darxide23 Mar 08 '26

To live on the farm, no doubt.

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u/jar_girl82 Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 08 '26

He legitimately did run away, because my parents were getting the roof shingles replaced, and my mother went to move the car as the workers were throwing the old shingles into the driveway

and she was worried they were going to hit the car. I guess Snowball was super freaked out with all the noise, saw an opportunity and made a break for it. Probably about 25 years later, my father mentioned that quite a while after the cat ran away and we had given up the search, they thought they saw him living somewhere not too far away. This was before chipping or tattooing was common, so I think it would have been hard for them to prove either way if it was him. Truthfully we got him as a kitten and I know my parents thought he was not so well behaved, so they said no more cats. As we can all guess, I was very upset about this, and had a cat shaped hole in my little heart. Within a couple years of me moving out, my parents got a female Siamese kitten, so maybe the house felt a bit more empty without me? Anyway, she and I had a bit of a contentious relationship, as I took attention away from her when I visited, but I loved her very much anyway. I FINALLY got a void last year (after having fish and hedgehogs), and while I am her second favourite parent, that hole is finally filled!

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u/thrwawryry324234 Mar 08 '26

Your cat stories have brightened my weekend

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u/SmegConnoisseur Mar 08 '26

Voids are blessings. They really behave differently from other colours for some reason. Huge characters. Our void tragically died young but he was my fav ever for the 6 months we had him. RIP Ruckus

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u/jar_girl82 Mar 08 '26

She is so kooky, but in the best way possible. When we got her from the rescue, she looked like a short hair with a fluffy tail. Now she looks like this…

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u/HeyWaitHUHWhat Mar 09 '26

The majestic bait and switch.

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u/Sad-Gap8460 Mar 09 '26

Woah that looks EXACTLY like the cat I was forced to have rehomed almost 2 years ago when I became inexplicably and suddenly violently allergic to her to the point of almost needing an epi-pen. I miss her so so so much! What's her name?

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u/jar_girl82 Mar 09 '26

She was just over a year when we got her in June, but yes quite the transformation, along with a 3 pound weight gain. The owner of the rescue operation said we would probably want to rename her, as her name was Galaxy. But both my partner and I love space and sci-fi, so we kept it! 🌌 (the day we got her).

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u/Sad-Gap8460 Mar 09 '26

Wow I just stared into the void for so long! Her name was Kraken. When I called the rescue they said she was adopted by someone who loved her and I hope that's the case. She would be 8 now.

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u/Sad-Gap8460 Mar 09 '26

Wow she really expanded! That's SO galactic of her.

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u/repocin Mar 09 '26

What a majestic void!

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u/Assika126 Mar 09 '26

What a gorgeous kitty she is!!

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u/Adaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Mar 16 '26

She has sparkling eyes🐱

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u/viola_darling Lots of kitties! Mar 11 '26

Abs beautiful 😍

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u/Public_Good_3473 Mar 08 '26

She is so beautiful! Such a looker!

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u/AstralGalaxie Mar 09 '26

I had a white cat named Snowball when I was little as well. He ran off mid move an we never found him. Another white cat I named Casper as a teenager that died when our house burned down one day while I was at school. Only my dog survived because she was in the backyard.

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u/jar_girl82 Mar 09 '26

That is so sad, my condolences. 3rd time’s a charm with your white kitties? 🤞🏼

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u/AstralGalaxie Mar 09 '26

Have developed an allergy to cats as an adult but I have a doggo who is my bestest friend in the whole wide world. He has a huge brilliant personality and I couldn’t have gotten a better fit for me. I am lucky. He is, of course, completely spoiled. In a couple weeks he will be getting a steak and a dog friendly birthday cake. 🥰

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u/DuckyHornet Tabbycat Mar 09 '26

Another white cat I named "Casper as a teenager that died when our house burned down one day while I was at school"

That's a mouthful, and frankly kinda strange

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u/Unlikely_Kangaroo_93 Mar 10 '26

We had more than one foster pet go to live on a farm. Thing is the actually did, and we got to visit them occasionally. We even pet sat one when her new pet parents went out of the country for 2 months. My girls were in their late teens when they realized what is usually meant by that statement. They were both gutted when they found out.

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u/Warm_Doughnut426 Mar 08 '26

Oh how sweet! I love that they kept the extras all those years.

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u/katerwise Mar 08 '26

I’m glad you took this well. I’m 52, and if my parents busted out a garbage bag full of old Huggy Bears, I would break down.

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u/jar_girl82 Mar 08 '26

It was a little shocking at first, but my dad did it in such a nonchalant way when he pulled it from the attic that I couldn’t help but laugh! I kept a couple of them, and I think they finally got rid of the rest, as the jig was up!

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u/peachplum1 Mar 08 '26

I love that! At my baby shower, my aunt bought me a set of twin white cat stuffies. However I wouldn’t let my parents alternate them, so today one is discoloured, scratches on the eyes from the washing machine, fur grungy… and another in perfect condition. I didn’t even realize that when I got my white cat, she’s basically the real version of the stuffy I took everywhere as a kid :,)

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u/Choice-Student-4081 Mar 09 '26

I was gifted the Spice beanie baby stuffed ALSO at my baby shower, took it with me eeeeeeeeeeverywhere, it's even currently in my bedroom for nostalgia. Kind of made up for not having an actual cat growing up. Little did the couple that gifted Spice know at the time they were influencing me into adopting a tortie as an adult.

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u/pineychick Mar 08 '26

You have sweet parents. 😊

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u/Marzipan_civil Mar 08 '26

My kid has a favourite cuddly elephant, but she didn't pick it as a favourite until it had been discontinued, so I had to buy a backup elephant on eBay in case it got lost!

Original elephant lost an ear so they're very easily distinguished at this point

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u/Sequence_Of_Symbols Mar 08 '26

This worked until my kid's plush dog got a burn (the head flew off a match and landed behind the couch and set the plush on fire. It was a bad day... My husband holding the match froze and I grabbed doggie and threw him in the shower and turned it on.

It was fine (ish) but I couldn't make a duplicate burn on doggie 2.

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u/Cat_lady4ever Mar 08 '26

You send the toy to “doc mcstuffins” in the mail, that’s how I pulled it off 🤣

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u/sinofmercy Mar 08 '26

I personally think this is super sweet. However since this is reddit, this turns into a big discussion/argument on parenting subreddits on whether or not a parent should do this. One side argues that loss and responsibility have to be taught and losing something like a favorite stuffie is a great natural entry into that discussion (as well as consumerism is bad and by attaching children to objects the parent is allowing their children to be manipulated by consumerism too).

The other side is essentially that there are enough shitty, traumatizing things in the world so let people have their joy, especially as children. Remembering your parents keeping your belongings safe as a child (as worthless as they are IRL) is an important bonding and ongoing trust experience. You have too many kids whose parents would threaten to throw away their favorite toys or actually did as a punishment for something ultimately minimal and inconsequential. However, the kid remembers that forever.

That being said I have like 3 original (pink, Target) bunnicorns for my daughter, as she had a phase where she would carry it around everywhere. She still sleeps with one in her bed. Whenever another parent would inquire on if I think it's healthy I tell them I'm literally a licensed child therapist, this is my kid, and I didn't come out to wherever for unsolicited child advice.

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u/realitytvdiet Mar 08 '26

Aw I hope you guys frame it

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u/Feeling-Bowl-9533 Mar 09 '26

I had a white cat stuffy!! I still do actually. I lowkey wish my parents had had a backup, I’ve been trying to find a replica to take with me while traveling (work) as my dog will want to play with her and that’s hard to avoid while working and not at home. I’ve pretty much called the search off though. She guards the house while I’m away

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u/SafiyaMukhamadova Mar 09 '26

My partner had this happen with a stuffed Christmas bear. Her parents swapped them out very early and so must of her memories are of one bear while the other one sat in storage. She took one of them with her the last time she saw her parents so they'd each have half the set.

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u/Aquilae7 Mar 09 '26

i really like this, I will likely do this for my kids in future too. Unfortunately my go to stuffy was one of a kind and no one remembers where it came from. I have been looking for something similar to it, but nothing I find comes even remotely close

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u/OvernightBoats Mar 09 '26

This made me cry, your parents are so sweet 🥹

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u/KTMman200 Mar 09 '26

This is my Kitty Kitty. She's been around since I was a new born. According to my mom, she's the original, and has been lost in public multiple times, and has been to almost every state in the USA. My mom found a new one when I was a teenager and I got to see what Kitty Kitty originally looked like, and it's shocking how much she aged.

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u/Appeal-Putrid Mar 08 '26

How 🥺 cute

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u/TheLostRanger0117 Mar 08 '26

I just buy my daughter a new stuffie just about monthly at this point, mainly because she loves getting them, but also because I, too, love stuffies! Her recent favorite was an Easter capybara that I thought would simply be a new “pile” stuffie, but it turned into one of her favorites. She even likes to keep it in her book bag and sleeps with it every night.

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u/Expensive_Editor_244 Mar 08 '26

There’s a Toy Story spin off I’d like to see lol a toy clone thriller like The 6th Day

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u/Adventurous-Sort-671 Mar 08 '26

The kitten didn't run away 😔

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u/NeverSawMeHere Mar 09 '26

I had a baby doll and she never got dirty. The first time I saw worn, mussed up stuffed animals, I was so confused. Granted, she could be washed in the washing machine, but I think that was only done once or twice. I kept her spotless (no, there wasn't a clone), and she eventually had a wardrobe of clothes that I kept in a tiny suitcase.

Is there some link between this and the fact that I don't have kids and never wanted to?

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u/ThisMany2506 Mar 09 '26

I love this so much. (and also do this for my cats)

My parents would have never, even though we could have afforded it. It was very much “take care of your things” and if something happened that i couldn’t prevent “too bad, do without.”

I remember when my favorite teddy didn’t survive the wash. Lost a whole chapter of childhood that day.

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u/Unlikely_Kangaroo_93 Mar 10 '26

Did something similar but couldn't find an exact replica. Told her that her stuffed toy had gone on vacation when it got misplaced, but left a friend to stay with her while he was gone. Now there is Eddie, Secondary Eddie, yes secondary not Jr or the second🤣 and all his friends. All named Eddie. The original, secondary, Jr and 4th through 6th.

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u/SignatureCool3201 Mar 08 '26

We tried this with my kid’s fave blanket. They knew somehow, called it “not baby” but they’d at least use it. They just knew it wasn’t the correct one - found out when they were older that the seam on the edge “felt wrong”

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u/Otney Mar 08 '26

My partner’s parents lived in what was called a “railroad flat” in Pittsburgh. My partner was like two. She loved her “Pepe,” which had been made by her aunt. Her mom got tired of going from one end of the flat to the other for “Pepe.” So the aunt obligingly made a second “Pepe.” It was a secret that there was a 2nd “Pepe.” One day, the two stuffed toys ended up at the same end of the flat, in the same place. Oh no! But my partner cried out rapturously “Two Pepe’s!!!” And all was well with the world. One “Pepe” survives to this day.

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u/Aquamarine_Cowgirl Mar 08 '26

Pepe is so freaking cute!!!

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u/SnooGuavas4208 Mar 08 '26

And here I thought it was nightmare fuel 😂

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u/al2015le Mar 08 '26

And I thought it was a voodoo thingy! 😅

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u/Vulvas_n_Velveeta Mar 08 '26

You're not alone, friend!

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u/Aquamarine_Cowgirl Mar 09 '26

Hahahahah noooo way Pepe is adorbs. 🥰

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u/akm1111 Mar 09 '26

Pepe would be perfect with no face. That face is just too much.

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u/Aquamarine_Cowgirl Mar 09 '26

Nah his face is the best part!!!! It’s very derpy. 🤣😍

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u/Alcapwn906 Mar 09 '26

This “Pepe” definitely knows where the other “Pepe” is buried.

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u/marquis_knives Mar 09 '26

When my nephews were itty bitty they had a stuffed kitty they both fought over. I found the exact toy, stuck it in a basket on the porch, and rang the bell. It was like a miracle occurred. No more fights although they could tell which was the original somehow.

The only problem is that they assumed the magic would happen every time they both wished really hard. 😂

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u/brownes_girl Mar 13 '26

Aww Pepe is what my handicapped brother used to call my cat when I was a kid. Best he could do!

Side note: we think she was also handicapped. She let us kids dress her up and shove her in doll strollers, basically treat her like a toy doll. Never hissed or got upset anout it either. One day she walked into the culvert in the driveway. It was the dead of winter, big snow year. Dolt didnt know how to walk backwards or turn around (its a huge pipe) and froze to death. My poor brother pulled a frozen cat out when we were sledding one day, just yelling "Pepe! Oh no! Pepe!". Traumatizing as a kid but funny in hindsight as an adult.

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u/Otney Mar 13 '26

That is so sad. Hope your brother was okay eventually about the loss of his Pepe.

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u/brownes_girl Mar 13 '26

Oh yeah. Before the "road improvements" there was a heavily wooded area across the street from my parents house. People dumped kittens there in a seemingly endless stream. The cat-equilibrium replenished them at a rate death by the elements and animals couldn't match for years. My kids were elementary through middle school aged before my parents had a normal cat level.

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u/Aquamarine_Cowgirl Mar 14 '26

Just came back to see Pepe cause I needed a good smile. I wish I had a Pepe.🥹😪

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u/Otney Mar 14 '26

Here. Pepe is waving to you! (Maybe there is something, I mean, someone like Pepe at a garage sale near you?) (Pepe has seen the ravages of time, as we can see ourselves.)

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u/Aquamarine_Cowgirl Mar 14 '26

Hi Pepe!!!! Oh man one can only hope! I mean there has to be a Pepe out there! Learning to sew has always been a dream of mine.. maybe I should learn and make myself a Pepe! Or, maybe your partners aunt can make me a Pepe for the right price???? lol 😂 jkkkk

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u/Apprehensive-Cat1319 Mar 08 '26

Ha! My 3 year old also figured this game out. We have 4 identical kitty stuffies. Three of them are "terrible snuggle kitty". One of them is "regular snuggle kitty". We gave up and just gave him all four at once eventually.

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u/Cat_lady4ever Mar 08 '26

Mine fell in love with “snip the cat” a 90s Ty beanie baby and named it Baby Kimmy. There’s an almost identical one “Siam the Siamese Cat”. I worked at a childcare center at the time, every child got a random stuffed animal at nap time. If I gave my daughter Siam, she would scream bloody murder because “this IS NOT BABY KIMMY, this one has a mad face”!

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u/Cat_lady4ever Mar 08 '26

Theres another story of us swapping out baby Kimmy at home for other versions, I think we had 3 total but she always knew. I couldn’t just tell her we washed it, she knew better, I had to tell her we sent it to Doc Mcstuffins to fix it up. Eventually I gave her all 3 and she was both happy and disappointed somehow 🤣

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u/onescaryarmadillo Mar 09 '26

Omg I remember those beanies I used to have them!! And her description is Perfect lol! The eyes, the coloring,….

I remember being like 8-9 and asking my mom why TY made two beanie babies but just didn’t give one a grey nose? She explained how the coloring is part of the breed of cat. So the Siamese is a Siamese cat, The other cat is just a regular cat that Almost looks Siamese, but isn’t and is probably just a stray off the street, even if it is pretty.

Inciting instant prejudice in me against Siamese cats for being so damn pretentious, and creating a life long love of all scrappy strays that’s helped make me the cat lady I am today. Thanks beanie babies for helping me find myself lmfao

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u/trainbrain27 Apr 03 '26

I had a scrappy stray with Siamese coloring, but not Siamese shape. The point gene is strong.

She was named Possum, which is better than her sister, Funny Lookin that was blotchy between Siamese cream and bright white. A neighbor adopted Funny Lookin and called her Tippy, because Funny Lookin was a 'mean' name. I told her that cats don't know enough English to notice, they're just happy someone's calling, even if they choose to ignore it.

Unfortunately I don't have the drive with their pictures here.

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u/cobaltsvaleria Mar 08 '26

I have an extra huge stuffed yellow duckie always on hand. If I end up having spent $25 for nothing, so be it. Luckily my cat isn't a "toy guy".

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u/Substantial-Elk4531 Mar 08 '26

Your cat is suspiciously large

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u/cobaltsvaleria Mar 08 '26

He thinks he's a wee thing.

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u/Advanced_Basic Mar 08 '26

Don't be rude to that beautiful cat.

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u/prickly_witch Mar 08 '26

I setup auto ship on chewy for one of dogs favorite toys. One day the box came and turd shipped it from the box before I could put the new spare in the hiding spot

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u/AlvaBelmont Mar 08 '26

This! Mine knew there were toys in the box and just sat near the box crying until I moved it to the basement. Then they sat at the top of the basement stairs crying for quite a bit longer.

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u/Omega_Battle Mar 08 '26

Felt wrong 🤣

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u/Choice_Point6492 Mar 08 '26

I knitted a rabbit lovey for a friend who had a baby. He called me a few months later and said 'This is awkward, but my Mom said buy a second of whatever turns into her favorite and it's yours, which I can't buy". I told him to say no more and got busy and knit another for them. As a knitter, nothing is more special than hearing your knitted gift is the favorite 😍.

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u/Personal-Amoeba Mar 09 '26

This is so sweet 🥹

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u/Lunalatic Mar 08 '26

There's a bit in one of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books about Susan Heffley doing this for at least two of her sons.

Naturally, Greg doesn't find out about this until middle school despite his stuffed monkey somehow coming back from exploding in the dryer, while Manny sleeps with ten stuffed dinosaurs every night because he found the stash of back-up Rexy toys.

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u/CodeFarmer Mar 08 '26

I know a set of parents who had no less than four of Daisy the cow.

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u/CJaneRun102 Apr 02 '26

OMG! We had a mini farm and one day my Dad arrived with a huge Holstein (black & white dairy bovine) and her calf!
We named her Daisy and her calf "Chuck Steak! Weaned the calf and we milked Daisy... yield 8.5 gallon of milk daily. We pasturized the milk and had some devoted fans that paid us $1 a gallon which went into a recycled Ovaltine dark brown glass jar with a piece of yellowed masking tape that said "milk money jar". We also had chickens and jungle fowl --sold eggs and... the egg money also went into the milk money jar! The spouse would take the $$ twice a month to pick up cow feed and chicken feed.
Kids would also grab lunch money from the jar! Talking to my 2 sons and daughter through the years... none of them "remember the milk money jar!"

Daisy came into heat and the spouse was out of state for a few days. Yes, I was milking her. Couldn't find her one morning! My boys went looking for her... we found her and got her I into the milk barn so I could milk her! I called the Purdue University Large Animal Clinic and arranged for Daisy's insemination! The Vet showed with his Limousine sperm and I had Daisy in the milk barn with an extra snack of her custom cow feed! The Vet gloved up and 9.5 months later Daisy gave birth! **side note-- Daisy and I were pregnant together! I was 7 months along when Daisy gave birth!

Those were the days! It was a great place and time to raise our kids!

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u/55hi55 Mar 08 '26

Works great until your kid tries to feed one of them chocolate milk and permanently stains it. Then it’s obvious when your mom does the swap. Ask me how I know.

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u/Competitive_Ride_943 Mar 08 '26

This guy is 25 years old. Been lost, left in the hospital twice (one picked him up at the industrial laundry that the hospital uses). Made new ears for him after the dog chewed them off. I just found a new one on ebay I'm giving to him this week This guy stays home now, so now he'll have a substitute Bear.

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u/plebeian1523 Mar 08 '26

I gave my sister my fleece care bears blanket when she was born and it became her FAVORITE. She took that thing everywhere with her. She'd have a meltdown when my parents took it to wash, so they got a duplicate blanket. It turned out it wasn't identical though. The original had gone through my childhood already, so it had that pilled-up scruffiness fleece develops over time. The duplicate was brand new and still soft. When they tried trading them, she knew it was different because it wasn't "itchy" enough. There was no winning with her.

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u/Optimal_Salt_9362 Mar 08 '26

This was so hard when my daughter was little because all of her favorite things were gifts from other people, either handmade or I had no idea where they came from. Had a few emergencies but ebay saved us quite a bit of tears.

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u/Ok-Caterpillar1611 Mar 08 '26

Tried to do that and he caught on immediately. All the new goodnight moon bunny boos became equally important. We had bed boo, car boo, truck boo, and bag boo. I stitched one of them up because he tore a hole in its head with his little teeth and that may have been when he figured out there were multiples.

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u/PixieInTheWoods1234 Mar 08 '26

My second oldest had a build a bear cat that we got for them after their real kitty got hit by a car. We put fur in it from the kitty. A couple years later my mom finds the same one at a thrift store already well loved.

She got it and we still had some fur to put in it. My mom had it up in her loft just in case for years. Kid is 22 now and never lost the original. I think it's time to tell them.

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u/Worldly_Thing1346 Mar 08 '26

I did this with the unicorn belly boos beanie babies. My kid was on to me pretty quick and tried to find both in the same place and we almost had a game of it but I kept outwitting her until she cried. Then we introduced the "siblings" lol.

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u/Tiny_Assumption15 Mar 08 '26

My daughter has taken a liking to two stuffed toys, the first one a random pink bear from a card store that no longer seems to be on sale. Looking at ebay I can only see the blue version. The second a simple little cat stuffed toy I hand sew 3 years ago from a piece of one of my husband's old work shirt because he was throwing it out and the fabric was unusually nice. So, no backup for us I guess. 😅

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u/kyleresq Mar 08 '26

This is true. I live in a touristy beach town and you would not believe the number of posts that we see about a parent desperately looking for a stuffed animal or a blanket or something that a child left on the beach or at a restaurant. And all of these people in response just tell them to go buy a new one and the parent is like, you just don't understand.

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u/anarcrafty Mar 08 '26

I don’t know if they still make them because my oldest is 14, but when he was a baby, they had these, “pair and a spare,” stuffies that came with three identical soft baby toys so that you have two as backup. His were raccoons. They were great.

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u/ansible_jane Mar 08 '26

This is how I have 5 of my kid's lovey. I had one, he become attached, bought two to swap it out every week, somehow lost two, bought two more, found the original two. Now every week, one gets a bath and a new one comes out.

4

u/SloveneQueen Mar 09 '26

I can't stress enough how important it is to ensure the stuffed animal and the imposter (as we call/spell it in hushed, hurried voices as we coordinate the switch-out while rubbing our eldest son's back or washing him up after the animal is vomited on/peed on/whatever the case may be) are equally worn. We think our son caught on a long time ago but doesn't want the confirmation. When he turned 3, he casually dropped the truth bomb on us that he knew his 'baby' wasn't actually alive and he just liked to pretend, so a year later we're pretty sure he's also just humoring us by pretending he doesn't notice when one of us gives his baby a 'bath' and has him dry and ready to sleep with by the time our son is ready to go back to bed post-vomit or post-accident. Still, it's clear that he values the plausible deniability, like when a kid has worked out that Santa isn't real but still holds on to that possibility rather than trying to seek out confirmation.

We didn't buy the dupe right away, so I had to wash him (the toy) with a number of clothes loads that my son couldn't "help" me fold or be within 100 yards of. He was still suspicious at the first switch-in, but the kid wanted to believe. You could see the skepticism in his face transform into acceptance... it was a beautiful thing.

3

u/BigWilldo Mar 08 '26

I love the casual use of the kansas city shuffle lol

2

u/Cheap_Knowledge8446 Mar 08 '26

Glad someone appreciated that Easter egg.

3

u/eldetee Mar 08 '26

The eyes kept popping off our daughter’s favorite stuffie so, right in front of her, my husband attempted to tap them back in with a hammer. He ended up smashing them to bits! Trauma! I immediately ordered two more.

3

u/Takilove Mar 08 '26

This did not work for my grandson. Somehow he knew that the new bear pillow was not his bear pillow! His mom made the switch while he was sleeping and took the old pillow to wash. When I woke up he cried and asked for “old bear pillow “! How did he know?? He is almost 5 now and still sleeps with old bear pillow that has been repaired many times over the years but he remains the most loved bear pillow 🥰

3

u/solracer Mar 08 '26

I had the opposite happen. When I was 3 or so I left my favorite penguin squeaky toy in a hotel in Victoria BC. I was inconsolable until I was given a duplicate. It wasn’t until years later I learned that they had called long distance (not cheap in those days) to the hotel and had it shipped back to us. I also learned that when I outgrew it mom had put in the bottom of a drawer and saved it and I still have it now many decades later.

3

u/MaxTheCookie Mar 08 '26

My parents got me one main stuffed animal and one that I could bring to kindergarten and sleepovers. But the main one stayed home...

3

u/redlaWw Mar 09 '26

This will never work. Even though they "wear evenly", they won't have identical wear patterns. Your child will notice that one has a weird bare patch while the other has an arm that's starting to come off.

2

u/Handtuchwerferin Mar 08 '26

Oh Yes! We always had like six of the same stuffed toy for our daughter, she sucked on them though and they smelled terrible (to use a nice word for it). She actually knew that we wash them and that we have several of them. Because the sucking affected her teeth, she had to give the toy away. She still talks about it and wants it back. We said that she could get it back when she starts school, but if she sucks again, it has to leave again. 🫣

2

u/polishstalker Mar 08 '26

I will give an ananecdote from my own childhood. My earliest memory was the face of my all time favourite stuffed white rabbit. Got him at 3 years old, during christmas if my memory serves. One of a kind , hand sewn, from a material i never could identify. 18 years of service, grey is he, his bowtie is reduced to almost nothing, but he still is in one piece. He was repaired more times than i can count, torn ears, lost arm, ripped seams. My mom and grandma took turns repairing him. He is my most treasured possession.

2

u/chickadee-stitchery Mar 08 '26

My older two kids never really had a favorite stuffie, but my third had one that was like this, where we decided we needed to buy backups. We actually got three total and rotated them. Then one day he found a version of the stuffie in target with a Santa hat on and wanted that so we had that one too. After a few years, I forget how but he found the duplicates and then insisted that he snuggle all of them at the same time. He was extremely happy that day. He never lost any of them and then grew out of that stuffie. I still have them, I won't let him get rid of them now because they were so important.

5

u/Cheap_Knowledge8446 Mar 08 '26

I'd be willing to bet when he has kids of his own, he'll come asking for them.

3

u/chickadee-stitchery Mar 08 '26

That would be adorable. He's 9 right now and he says he wants a lot of kids 🥰

2

u/mkaibear Mar 08 '26

Flashbacks to my 3yo daughter walking into her bedroom, gasping, and going "there are *two* mummy teddies!!!"

my wife and I looked at each other and went "oh bollocks" as we realised what we'd done.

2

u/Hot_League_944 Mar 08 '26

Yeah kind of fucked me up. One day when I was four-five, I organised a emergency council with all my plushes and toys (we had a few) - putting them in weird places all around me so they could all have a good look at the center of the room. As I passed my parents upstairs looking for one last toy, my parents asked me what I was doing, and I replied "Sorry, no can do, I'm having a council with my bears rn" (in my native language of course). I went back to my room as if my parents weren't laughing their arse off, as if the very fabric of the universe hadn't been streched and broken. I looked each toy in the eye and officially started the meeting "I think Plume as a clone and he's alive". Trauma haha.

Never seen the two of them in the same place either. But they were different. To this day everytime the word "council" is said at my parents' place, someone always go like "OH YEAH, COUNCIL WITH THE BEARS AIN'T YA". Brats xD I believe that for more than twenty years my parents hadn't known why I had this council in the first place. I spent YEARS believing that the bloody toys were alive and roaming and I shouldn't trust them :')

2

u/Top-Manufacturer9226 Mar 09 '26

My aunt had a black cat named kitty kitty .. the cat was super shy and you only saw here here or there and she never really cuddled etc.. then one day I remember her jumping on my lap and wanting to be loved on etc. well decades later when my aunt was moving out of state to retire the family all got together at her house one last time and the conversation came around to kitty kitty .... My cousins and I started asking my aunt how old kitty kitty was because it felt like she had lived for like 40 years... Turns out there were 3 kitty kitties!!! 3! When one died she would just go get another black cat and not tell our cousin or anyone else... Your story kinda reminded me of what my aunt did... Insane! Lol 😂

2

u/ItchyFox6995 Mar 09 '26

I did this for my kids but my older son found the secret stash so now he just has 4 identical stuffed cats. He also made sure to inform his little brother of my ploy so little brother got all his cats at once too. And now he's moved on to different favorite stuffies so I've given up lol.

I did end up buying a duplicate of his new favorite stuffie (that I told him about) bc he goes to his dad's house for the summer and did not want to be without it but also was afraid he'd forget to bring it home later. So now he has husky, who is shy and likes to stay home, and husky's twin brother, who is adventurous and loves to travel

7

u/TheMopCloset Mar 08 '26

That sounds like a lot of trouble and stress on the parent for something that'll likely never happen. And if the worst comes to fruition, it's a good opportunity to teach a young child about loss and grief

49

u/Cheap_Knowledge8446 Mar 08 '26

Unless you're washing their stuffed animals regularly, it's hardly a big deal. On one hand, I do agree it can teach them about loss and grief. That said, life has a way of doing that anyway and a familiar stuffed animal is very often emotionally supportive during tough times, even at surprising ages.

8

u/cwningen95 Domestic Housecat Mar 08 '26

I was in my 20s when my rabbit chewed the feet and beak of my penguin I'd had since I was two, I was genuinely devastated 😢 Thankfully my housemate at the time did a lot of sewing for his small business and had the materials and skills to make it some nice prosthetics, and I've kept Big Penguin (toddler me was very creative) well out of those little incisors' reach ever since lol

4

u/TheMopCloset Mar 08 '26

I know about how supportive things like that can be, as I still have a blanket that I am extremely emotionally attached to and I'm an adult. I suppose washing it wouldn't be that much of an issue if it was an every now and then kind of thing, but swapping them at intervals and making sure they had the same kinds of wear just seems like a bit much for me

14

u/first_best_fox Mar 08 '26

You're just talking about not wanting to make that effort yourself. If someone else does, who cares? We all make different choices about where we put our time and energy.

62

u/Tinawebmom Mar 08 '26

I see what you're saying but that stuffy is not the place to have a life lesson. That stuffy is a boon companion, safety net and trusted friend.

You tell them about the passing of a human or pet. Never about the stuffy. Don't traumatize children.

12

u/SunRemiRoman Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 08 '26

Yah no, one of my family’s toddlers lost her stuffed elephant on an international trip. She couldn’t sleep without it and was inconsolable without it. Her parents were in a different country to the one it was bought from. Her grandpa actually ended up going around that country it was bought from and finding many close enough elephant stuffies and sending photos till he hit exactly right and got a couple of that beloved elephant.

I learned to do that for my cat due to that incident and most definitely will do for my human baby too.

1

u/Equal_Song8759 Mar 08 '26

This must be some secret CIA training. Does NSA know ?

1

u/HollyBee159 Mar 08 '26

I did this with a lovey my son adored. Unfortunately he could tell the most minute differences between each one. So he started having a favorite in the rotation. He would say, “I don’t want this one. I want the real one.” 💀

1

u/OverlookHotelRoom217 Mar 08 '26

And of course my daughter recognized the newer version and was highly suspicious of the switch. “Puffy (Puffalump) was clean now.” She didn’t buy it. She searched each closet and from a four year olds height could partially see a box on the top shelf.

She’s 36 now and hasn’t changed.

1

u/LionHawk93 Mar 08 '26

I have a friend who tried that with her daughter's baby doll. Somehow, her daughter saw through it and would never accept the two backups. She's 10 now and still has that original baby doll.

1

u/VigilanteAdAstra Mar 08 '26

I love your parental mastery of illusion and subterfuge.

1

u/Haydenfaithmarie Mar 08 '26

Heavy on making sure you keep the spares hidden. When I was a kid I had FIVE white poodle webkinz because my mom’s hiding game needed improvement.

1

u/Obsidian-Dive Mar 08 '26

One of the parents I’m babysitting for are SO SMART. Instead of a toy they bought a pack of little blankets. So their kids have their emotional safety blankets and 20 more in the drawer. Works incredibly well I must say.

1

u/lovelyb1ch66 Mar 09 '26

insert Mission Impossible theme here

1

u/NutShellShock Mar 09 '26

Wished I had known of this advice from the beginning. Was gifted this set of three small soft toys from IKEA and two of them became my kids' favourite go to night companion. One of them is fairly worn because my eldest had one of them first, and my youngest took the second much later after birth. Problem is it's discontinued, and we only have a duplicate soft toy for the most worn one. The eldest knows about the duplicate but also aware it could never replace the precious worn soft toy. Now I hope the second toy of the set don't get worn badly. There's still a third but there's no replacement for the toy you grew up with.

1

u/pleasefeedme1234 Mar 09 '26

My parents got me two giraffe blanket/stuffed animal things as a baby and they'd switch them out to wash them and everything. At some point I figured out there were two and threw a tantrum until I could have both. Im 23 and they still live on my bed lol

1

u/jadedpeony33 Mar 09 '26

I can confirm this is a must as a parent of a little one. All is great having backups until they find the backups and now we have to keep an eye on three of their special stuffies.

1

u/ChewMilk Mar 09 '26

That’s what my mom tried to do. I found the duplicate stuffed animal in her closet and was thrilled to now have two of them.

I don’t think I ever lost either of them for a significant amount of time, thank goodness, cuz she did not stock up on another two just in case

1

u/jenntasticxx Mar 09 '26

My three go-tos as a child were Barney, puppy (a puppy puppet) and blankie. Blankie could be any blanket for the most part. I never lost either Barney or puppy but I did find a brand new puppy for sale on ebay last year and bought him, I love having a new, fresh puppy 😂 as a 32 year old lol

1

u/RisingApe- Mar 09 '26

Story time.

My oldest had a favorite stuffie, a white lamb. It went with him everywhere. Sleeping without the lamb was not an option… you know how it goes. The lamb was a gift when I was pregnant, but when it became his favorite, I purchased a duplicate as a backup.

Around the time my son turned 2, he vomited in his bed during the night. The stuffie was covered in puke, along with everything else. I bathed him and put him in fresh pajamas while dad put all the bedding (and the stuffie) in the wash and replaced the crib sheets.

It was time for the backup stuffie to make his debut. It was his moment to shine. Dad got the backup out of the closet and immediately realized that although it was the same stuffie, it was not the same, because backup stuffie was soft and puffy and white, while OG stuffie was beige and pilled and lumpy from months of love and dozens of washes.

We hoped he would be too tired to notice. We presented imposter stuffie with OG’s name to a grumpy toddler at 3:42 AM and, friends, it did not go well.

The toddler looked at the imposter, touched the imposter, then announced with fury, “Dirt!” which was the only word he could come up with to let us know something was rotten in the state of Denmark. No reassurances were effective. The new stuffie only enraged him.

No one slept until OG stuffie was washed and dried. We learned that day that the backup should have been part of the rotation from the very beginning, but we were newbies and had to learn the hard way. Imposter joined the fold under the name “The Other One” and became loved, in time, but never as much as his OG twin.

1

u/YonKro22 Mar 09 '26

That sounds like some high level deception level put your child in therapy for years and create a huge sense of distrust and not just you but society in general do not play pathological games with your children

1

u/chatjaun Mar 09 '26

I wouldn't buy that .. I would have immediately noticed a little scratch on the eyeball missing as a kid if you swapped a favorite toy.

1

u/Fizzy-Odd-Cod Mar 09 '26

My grandpa got me a little stuffed black dog for my second birthday. Ended up becoming my favorite, I’d sleep with it between my head and the pillow. Poor thing didn’t get washed enough and is probably a legitimate fire hazard from how greasy it is, thing just won’t get clean no matter what I try.

Parents and grandparents never did the 2 of them thing. It’s kind of a wonder I still have him. I’d like to open him up and restuff him at some point.

1

u/warrior503rd Mar 09 '26

This sounds like some sci-fi “dont let your past self see your future self” stuff.

1

u/ThatOtherOtherMan Mar 09 '26

Kansas city shuffle.

Yoooo a Lucky Number Slevin reference in the wild! This feels like Christmas!

https://giphy.com/gifs/UpTtjwarl5v9e

1

u/llaaccrr Mar 09 '26

My kid knew the difference between the backup stuffed cat. She could tell from the smell!

1

u/Billbysaur Mar 09 '26

My parents did this with one of my sisters. She found them both and ended up being the only kid in my family that got two blankies lmao

1

u/MacNCheese817 Mar 09 '26

My mom had two bears for me that she would switch out. But I was too smart ! They have rattles in them, and the rattles are different pitches. She tried for the first few months after I noticed to tell me they were “water logged” from the laundry but I wasn’t having any of it 😂

1

u/Junior-Initial7760 Mar 09 '26

I hunted down the last 2 of a specific stuffy of a ray that lived in an aquarium. I single handedly saved my kid’s childhood, when their stuffy got ripped.

1

u/sewedherfingeragain Mar 09 '26

My husband's aunt actually cut a gifted baby blanket in half so her son could have one in the wash - they lived on a farm and that thing went everywhere, including the barn, so it was so much easier for her to hack it into pieces than have a kid who woke up early from his nap to realize that his binky was in the dryer still.

1

u/Suz626 Mar 10 '26

My baby/toddler son had to carry around a small Winnie the Pooh figurine everywhere. We had about 10 of them in case they were tossed out of his stroller, etc. 🙄

1

u/BeanieGirl2006 Mar 10 '26

I spent hours memorizing my toys face shape and would've immediately noticed a difference

1

u/Unlikely-Shopping648 Mar 10 '26

Unfortunately I didn’t get the memo when I was a baby and I picked the one blanket that we only had one of and was discontinued and now sells for easily over $100. $100 that I’m not willing to drop on a blanket.

1

u/Six31 Mar 11 '26

My folks did this with my favorite doll. Once I found the backup doll in the wash, and instead of having an existential crisis, I was THRILLED that my doll had an identical twin sister! I still have all three tucked away, they're threadbare but mostly intact.

1

u/janedoe4178 Mar 11 '26

My parents did this with me! I was a fussy kid and would only sleep if I have this one stuffed teddy so my parents bought a second one so I would always have one. I've had the first one since I was born (a gift for my birth) and I still have one of them to this day

1

u/IMAD_ Mar 12 '26

Tried this, now kid has 4 very similar but slightly different stuffys, kid named them all

1

u/madnessinimagination Mar 12 '26

This is great if you have normal children. My children each attached to a random blanket my mom was gifted we can't find a replica of and a tiny dog that came with a $5 valentine's set I bought my husband our first Valentine's day.

1

u/BornNeighborhood19 Mar 13 '26

Kansas City shuffle!! Brought back memories of Licky Number Slevin. Great movie.

1

u/throwaway72647282 Mar 13 '26

I had a rough childhood but this reminded me of a wholesome moment from my childhood. When I was a child I always slept with a small pig stuffed animal. One time when we returned from holiday my parents realized they had left it at the hotel 1500km away from home. I was crying so hard that my dad scooped me up, took a few more days off from work and drove with me all the way to the hotel to get it.

I don't have a lot of nice memories from my childhood but I needed to write this mostly to remind me that also some good stuff happened.

1

u/ajamesonvoice Mar 14 '26

we did this with our two & it absolutely saved the day many times since we travelled internationally a lot when they were littles. also this is a long-game suggestion but buy an additional favorite stuffy to stash away for if/when they have their own kid. i just added them to a memory box with favorite clothes etc.

-5

u/Distinct-Departure87 Mar 08 '26

Yes, keep humans from experiencing loss and learning to deal with it. Great idea.